Today's Features

Last year’s renovation of the bell tower on Bedford’s courthouse included repairs to the clock. Long before that, however, Edward Stanley worked on the clock and made sure it rang on the half-hour, along with tolling on the hour.

Stanley always liked clocks and repaired them as a hobby when he was a child.

Larry Minnis and his son, Kevin, represent third and fourth generations of their family to work at the paper mill in Big Island.

The first generation was Jessie Minnis, Larry’s grandfather. The second was Larry’s father, Marshall, who started in 1939. Larry’s uncle, J. W. Reynolds was the mill’s first black supervisor.
Kevin noted that his maternal great-grandfather, Gilbert Spinner, also worked at the mill.

Seventy-five years ago, on February 20, 1941, a group of hale and hearty American boys kissed mothers and girlfriends goodbye, picked up their duffels, and filed in good order onto a train in Bedford, Virginia.
None could know it, but they were departing for an unexpected rendezvous with history. They were Company A of the 116th Regiment, 29th Division—better known as the Bedford Boys.

Eva Arthur, who grew up near Ivy Creek, celebrated her 100th birthday at Carriage Hill last week.

Arthur grew up on a farm at the foot of Jackson Mountain. She got lots of exercise when she was young. She had no transportation and frequently walked up, down and around Jackson Mountain “running after cows.”
The family didn’t raise cattle, but they had two Jersey cows that provided milk for their own use. Arthur helped milk the cows every morning.

Because of kidney failure, Sue Wilken must have dialysis three times a week. It’s a very unpleasant process.

“It’s painful to have those needles stuck in you,” she said.
However, good came out of a bad situation. Before she went on dialysis, Wilken, who is five-feet, six-inches tall weighed 285 pounds.
“I was eating a lot of fast foods,” she said. “I just kept putting on the weight.